Travelling with the Vision Pro

[Ctrlos]

I'm going some research for an article and wondered if anyone could help me out. I'm interested if any AVP owners use their headsets whilst travelling, what for and how the experience was?

I know Apple like to market it as something to be used on a plane but howabout a train? I am normally out of office for a night at a time and so travel light but sat in my hotel I often ponder how cool it would be to have an AVP with me to watch something on a massive display or pull up a multi-display workspace with only the headset as luggage.

Do people use it for gaming on the go? I wouldn't imagine playing Fruit Ninja in a hotel is fun but do people stream game pass and suchlike to it?

 

[SHKLMRE]

I travel with mine all the time. It’s great for watching movies on the plane/trane. On my last vacation I used it for the virtual ultrawide display paired with my MacBook Pro. It was amazing for productivity and I used the feature daily for hours on end.

 

[geauxmac]

It is the best way possible to watch movies on a plane. It eliminates the claustrophobic plane cabin, puts you in a very believable immersive environment with a movie theater size screen. I use it in all flights now.
Gaming it’s not as good as you need to use your hands and you would likely invade the persons space next to you or inadvertently hit someone!

It has a travel mode so that the screens stay in one place and don’t move as the plane/train moves.

 

[SunMac]

It's great for traveling. I have used mine on trains/car/airplanes. Even gaming with a controller. You can use Steam Link to stream your PC games to your Vision Pro Display as well.

 

[Ghost31]

I am debating with myself real hard about taking it to work. I’m left alone a lot and this would be the killer way to make time go by faster. But…there’s always the worry I’m gonna drop it or something. Choices choices

 

[mwjdavies]

I have only just got my Vision Pro, but one of my key uses will be for travelling. Either use on the plane, for same reasons others have mentioned, to times when Im working away and in hotels on my own. Something a bit more immersive to watch on than a standard hotel sized TV (well Hotels I stay in anyway is Holiday Inns, and in the UK the TV’s are nothing to write home about lol)

 

[arfung]

I travel with mine often - use that small Waterfield Designs case. I love having on planes and trains, and in hotel rooms if I have a good chunk of time to work. The main downside is that I need an extra bag. W/o AVP, I travel with just a backpack usually. With AVP, I have a small backpack and duffel bag (with clothes and AVP). So I only take it on trips of 2-3 days or more.

 

[cgharper]

I travel with mine often - use that small Waterfield Designs case. I love having on planes and trains, and in hotel rooms if I have a good chunk of time to work. The main downside is that I need an extra bag. W/o AVP, I travel with just a backpack usually. With AVP, I have a small backpack and duffel bag (with clothes and AVP). So I only take it on trips of 2-3 days or more.

I have the same case and highly recommend it. It even keeps the Anapro inside the case no problem (detached).

 

[smcaruso]

I always travel with it—great on the plane, of course, but the last couple flights I've taken haven't had power outlets. Since it only has about 2 hours of battery, that's not enough for a lot of movies. It's really nice to have it in the airport, too, for doing work and just reading/internet in privacy. And of course it completes my mobile workstation, giving the same Mac desktop experience that I get at home even with just a 14" laptop in my bag.

 

[Th3ChaOsW3aver]

I use it on the bus/train commuting frequently

 

[cpurdy]

Recently had a pair of 5000km flights, and had two different experiences with the VP + MBP. On the first flight, everything went fine (other than keeping the power adapter in the outlet ... more on that later). On the second flight, the wifi on the plane sucked, and the VP basically didn't work as a result 🤦‍♂️ ... definitely a weak implementation in this regard, and I think it's a late change as well (because the VP apparently used to use a second separate WiFi connection to the Mac, from what an engineer friend of mine with the combination told me). So when it works, it's great, and very productive -- even in a squished economy seat 😳

Conclusion: If you need airline wifi for Internet connectivity, the VP experience with the MBP will be directly negatively impacted by the quality of the wifi if the airline wifi sucks. This was disappointing, and I ended up having to work without the VP, which I'm used to, but knowing how relatively productive I can be with the VP, the result sucked.

Regarding the power, I'm going to take a UK plug in the future, because it's far heftier than the US plug style, and has three points of mounting. Specifically, this awesome little charger https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256805268953351.html supports physically swappable plugs and comes with US/China, UK, and the "everyone else" plug (EU etc.) No idea if it will help, but I'm 99% sure that it will! The second thing about power is that I have finally found the combo that works best with the MBP + VP:

* A good USB C power supply with at least 65w (the Baseus above is my latest carry-on travel one, and gets hot, but unbeatable for size)
* Anker USB C smart power splitter - this thing is awesome! - https://www.ebay.com/itm/326194228026
* A small USB C extension for the MBP e.g. https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256807428714677.html
* Alternative extension is a combo of a small springy cable e.g. https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256806845848676.html and a F-F adapter e.g. https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256808114600502.html
* MagSafe3 adapter e.g. https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256808114600502.html

This allows for a single USB cable from the power supply which then forks to the VP and the MBP, and works nicely. I keep a set of these combo/mess of cables in the VP bag, ready to go (actually using it right now). The 2m Apple power cable for the MBP plus a separate one for the VP was just too much.

If you don't mind the ludicrous size/weight, you can always just use the does-everything Anker - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BSGH355C - I tend to not have this in my carry-on, and use it for my stays-in-the-hotel setup.

 

[g-7]

I'm not using it when travelling at all. Vision Pro is too big for me to be practical on a plane (where I need to limit my carry-on luggage) or even on a train (where I just want my backpack to be light). Also, the battery life is quite short. So, home use only for me.

On the go I use Xreal One, small enough to always stick in my backpack. Completely different from Vision Pro, no immersive VR, but more than enough to watch movies on a plane or on a train. Additional bonus (or maybe drawback for some…) is that no one notices it really.

Unfortunately, Vision Pro is too heavy and too power hungry to be a travel device for me. Maybe the next generation?

 

[cpurdy]

I'm not using it when travelling at all. Vision Pro is too big for me to be practical on a plane (where I need to limit my carry-on luggage) or even on a train (where I just want my backpack to be light). Also, the battery life is quite short. So, home use only for me.

The size and weight are not to be dismissed ... it's both large and (for people who travel frequently, and thus optimize for every gram) heavy. But as far as power goes: Most planes and trains have power outlets now, right? And it doesn't use much power (probably 10-20w most of the time for me), but the current "standalone" design with the battery pack is pretty lame for people like me who only use it with a Mac.